Moving forward, Brookfield Residential will be a major builder of single-family homes in the greater Bay Area. The homebuilder recently announced it will construct 1,995 homes as part of a development in Dublin. The first phase will feature roughly 400 homes, a mix of townhomes and single-family detached. The majority of the development will be for-sale product rather than multifamily.

Brookfield also has projects underway or upcoming in Hayward Hills and East Dublin, with its eye on Oakland for a potential master-planned community.

Unlike single-family permits, the volume of remodeling permits did not spike significantly during the second quarter, rising 3.4 percent year-over-year. However, the remodeling industry has recovered better since the housing bust, by an estimated 47 percent. To the south of the metro, the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara region has significantly recovered from the bust, by nearly 180 percent.

Nationwide, new home permit activity rose by 18.7 percent year-over-year during the second quarter; however, the industry is considered to have recovered from the housing bust by only 16.8 percent.